RAAT vs normal Qobuz streaming?

Is there any quality difference streaming via Roon/RAAT or normal Qobuz to e.g a Cambridge CXN v2:

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Short answer, if you’ve no EQ/DSP engaged anywhere, no.

Ok so streaming via Qobuz will also be 192/24bit?

I was under the impression that it was only possible to do that using RAAT, but I guess the Qobuz “protocol “ in the Cambridge CXN is also cable of that?

The Qobuz app allows you to select the streaming quality (which is also governed by what subscription level you have):

Also depends on the source material; some albums are only available in CD quality.

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I have the max subscription on Qobuz so the assumption is the same album at 192/24 that get streamed though RAAT (with Qobuz connected to Roon) vs the built in Qobuz (using the native Qobuz iOS app) in the Cambridge CXN.

You probably have to ask Cambridge if their CXN can use Qobuz up to 24/192 with their built-in Qobuz option. (That’s not really a Roon question; Roon can do it without issues, so the question is really if the CXN’s built-in Qobuz implementation is inferior)

Spotify and Tidal have their “Connect” options where the phone app becomes just a remote and the streaming happens on the player. Qobuz don’t have that, so with many players this means that streaming from the Qobuz app to the player means using Airplay or Chromecast, which has limitations regarding resolution.

Airplay is CD quality, Chromecast can theoretically go up to 24/192 but I know that, e.g., Naim say it’s not ideal because Google’s Chromecast implementation (which has to be used on the player) is inefficient and, therefore, Chromecasting very hi-res content puts a lot of processing load on the player and is prone to dropouts as well. (Generally, I don’t think gapless works with Chromecast either).

However, the Cambridge CXN page says Qobuz is “built in”. I don’t know how they do that, so this would be a question for Cambridge as far as I can tell.

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The CXN manual says:

Qobuz (via Chromecast)

  1. Open the Qobuz app and choose the playlist, album, song, etc. that you wish to stream to player.
  2. Select the Qobuz Connect icon within Qobuz and select the Cambridge Audio network player from the list. 3. Qobuz should now be casting your chosen content to the player.

Qobuz (via StreamMagic)

  1. Open the StreamMagic app and navigate to the Library tab, and then select Qobuz.
    Note: Please ensure that you sign into your Qobuz account when prompted to do so. This will only be required on the first instance of use to link the account to the StreamMagic app.
  2. Choose the playlist, album, song, etc. that you wish to stream to player. 3. Qobuz should now be streaming your chosen content to the player.

I have no idea about StreamMagic

That’s CA streaming app and architecture it uses the api like all integration does on streamers and will support up to 192/24

I figured, but what I don’t know is how they implemented it and if there are limitations with hi-res streaming in this way.

No limitations most streamers don’t unless the DAC isn’t capable which it is on all CA devices.

OK, so then it should be fine for SQ and probably better to avoid the Chromecast option. Of course this means using the StreamMagic app then instead of the Qobuz app, and I don’t know if that’s better or worse than the Qobuz app regarding UI and features.

Its pretty good by all accounts as an app, but the Qobuz API is limited in scope on all OEM’s not much you can do to improve its functionality more a layout thing.

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Ok so UI aside I guess both options will deliver same 192/24 stream?

Guess it’s same with blue sound node that also connects qobuz through their own app.

And yes chrome cast should not be used because of the 96/24 limit

Essentially yes. The minor difference being that with Roon the FLAC file from Qobuz is decoded on the core and the raw LPMC samples are sent to the player. With the Cambridge app, as it seems to be using the Qobuz API, the FLAC decoding is probably done on the player. The FLAC decoding load is very small, so I would guess that it makes no audible difference on a modern player. However, theoretically the Roon way of doing things is better.

That limit seems to be only nominal. It is not standardized for higher resolution, but with Naim and Chromecast, for instance, it does work up to 24/192. It’s just that it makes the player work very hard because of the inefficient Chromecast stack, so Naim advise against it if it can be avoided